Thursday, 31 May 2018

In the first part of today’s text Mark uses what is know as a
“sandwich construction”. This means that he begins narrating an incident,
interrupts it by another incident, which is completed, and then the first
incident, which was begun and left incomplete, is completed. There are various
reasons for the use of this technique.

Here, Mark begins by narrating what is known as the cursing of
the fig tree (11:12-14). Only Mark tells us that it was not the season for figs
and yet, when Jesus did not find any fruit on the tree he cursed the tree. It
is the only 'miracle' that occurs within the Jerusalem section of the Gospel and
the fact that it destroys nature does not fit the pattern of the other miracles
of Jesus, which make people whole. Mark wants his readers; therefore to see the
symbolic character of the miracle of the cursing of the fig tree and associate
its fate with the fate of the Temple, which is also not producing the fruit, at
is meant to produce.

Mark keeps in suspense what happens to the fig tree till much
later (11:20-21), after he has narrated the incident that he places in the
middle of the sandwich. This is what is known as the Cleansing of the
Temple (11:15-19). It is an incident that is narrated by all the four Gospels
though John narrates it quite differently from the manner in which the
Synoptics do and even within the Synoptics there are slight differences. Mark
is the only one of the evangelists who tells us that Jesus would not allow
anyone to carry anything through the temple which indicates that for Mark Jesus
has the power to determine what activity is proper to the Temple. The teaching
of Jesus is a combination of two Old Testament texts Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah
7:11. The chief priests and scribes take affront when they hear about this
incident and look for a way to kill Jesus.

Mark then continues the first incident (the cursing of the fig
tree) and completes it (11:20-21). The fig tree has indeed withered. This is
what will happen to the Temple
if it continues in the way of the fig tree, namely if it does not produce the
fruit required of it.

Peter is amazed that the fig tree has withered and comments on
it (11:22). This gives an opportunity for the Marcan Jesus to teach has
disciples about prayer (11:23-25). The first saying about the mountain
being thrown into the sea (11:23) brings out forcefully through a dramatic
metaphor what is possible for one whose faith does not waver. The second saying
(11:24) applies to the community the general principle of the previous verse,
namely that there must be absolute confidence in prayer. The final saying (11:25)
speaks about forgiveness as a condition to receive the forgiveness of God. This
is because if there is unforgiveness in one’s heart it is not possible to
receive the forgiveness of God. The unforgiveness acts a block to receiving
God’s forgiveness.

Most doctors today are convinced that the larger majority of the
illnesses we suffer are psychosomatic. This means that because our
mind/heart/internal (psyche) is affected, our body/external (soma) will also be
affected. Keeping grudges, harbouring feelings of revenge, nurturing anger and
not forgiving are sure ways to spoil one’s health. Illnesses like acidity,
hyper tension, fistula, piles, stress diabetes, high blood pressure and many
others can be controlled and even avoided if one removes all the negative from
one’s heart and mind.

The Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin
Mary to her kinswoman Elizabeth was begun by St. Bonaventure among the
Franciscans in 1263 C.E, and became a universal Feast in 1389 C.E., during the
papacy of Urban VI. It celebrates the visit of Mary to Elizabeth after the
angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus.

The call of the first reading chosen for the feast
of today is a call to rejoice. This rejoicing is for many reasons. The first of
these is that judgement has been taken away. The Lord is now in the midst of
his people. This being in the midst of his people is confirmed by the Gospel
text of today where Jesus is already in the womb of Mary and so among his
people. There will be no more reproach or condemnation. Now, there will only be
unconditional love.

This unconditional love is confirmed both by the
physical act of Mary’s visit to her kinswoman Elizabeth and also the Magnificat
which is attributed to Mary. In this hymn, Mary extols God’s greatness because
God has indeed redeemed his people. The verbs that are used in the hymn are all
in the past tense though signify future actions. This is an indication of the
faith and confidence that Mary has in God who she is confident will accomplish
all that he has promised.

Though on the surface level the Visitation may
appear to be Mary’s concern and love for her cousin, on the deeper level it
means that Mary wants to share with Elizabeth what God has done in each of
their lives and through the sons to be born of them, what God will do in the
world.

Tuesday, 29 May 2018

In this pericope Jesus predicts for the third and final time
that he is to suffer and die and be raised (10:32-34). It is the most detailed
of all the three. Here too, like in the case of the two previous Passion and
resurrection predictions there is a misunderstanding. This time it is on the
part of James and John who want places of honour in the kingdom. In response to
Jesus’ question of whether they are able to drink the cup that he must drink
and be baptised in the baptism with which he must be baptised, they say that
they are able. Jesus promises that they will indeed drink the cup and undergo
the baptism, but cannot he cannot determine the position of places in the kingdom.
That role is left only to the Father.

The other disciples who become agitated with the request of the
brothers are in the same boat as they are, and once again Jesus has to teach
them the way of the kingdom. Only those willing to serve others can hope to
have a place of honour in the kingdom. The last verse of this section points to
the Son of man who has come to show the way to the kingdom through his service.

The attitude of the ten towards James and John may be termed as
confrontation. This often happens when one desires what the other person is
striving for and so feels jealous and envious of the other. It also leads to
backbiting and thinking ill of the other like the ten did in the case of James
and John. An alternative to confrontation is the attitude of “care-frontation”
which would involve challenging the other person to rise above trifles and
that, which is not necessary. It arises out of a genuine concern for the good
of the person.

In response to the statement of Jesus that it is impossible for
the rich to enter the kingdom
of God, Peter states that
they as disciples have left everything to follow Jesus. The response of Jesus
is a reassurance that what they have given up will be replaced by the new bond
that they will share with each other both in this life and in the life to come.
It must also be noted that the Marcan Jesus also mentions persecutions as being
part of the lot of the disciples. These are to be expected by anyone who is a
true witness of the Gospel.

The last verse of this pericope speaks about the
reversal of status that will be part of the kingdom indicating that that the
values of the world do not apply in the kingdom.

When we sacrifice something for a cause we must realise that our
reward must be the sacrifice itself. The reason why we sacrifice is because we
believe in the cause, whether it is helping the poor, reaching out to the needy
or any other and we must gain our satisfaction from the understanding that
someone has lived more fully because of the sacrifice that we have made.

Sunday, 27 May 2018

This text is made up of two parts. The first is the story of the
rich man who is unable to accept Jesus’ invitation to discipleship (10:17-22)
and the second part contains the sayings of Jesus on the danger of riches (10:23-27).

The rich man addresses Jesus as “Good teacher” and asks what he
must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus shifts the focus from himself and makes
God the focus. In Mark, Jesus cites six of the commandments of the Decalogue
(Ex 20:12-17; Deut 5:16-21).

The response of the rich man is to affirm that he
has followed all of these. Only in Mark does Jesus look at the man and love
him. This love results in the issuance of an invitation: the invitation to
follow Jesus. The invitation is to forego even the privilege of alms giving for
the sake of sharing Jesus’ life style by depending on god while at the same
time proclaiming his kingdom. The rich man is devoted to God’s word, but cannot
bring himself to accept the invitation. His riches become an obstacle to his
following.

After his departure, Jesus turns to the disciples to instruct
them on the danger of riches. Jesus uses a metaphor of a camel trying to pass
through the eye of a needle. Even this impossible as it might be to imagine is
possible and easier than for a rich person to enter the kingdom. The amazement
of the disciples while understandable also brings out powerfully the obstacle
that riches can pose to seeing rightly.

We are living in a world, which keeps calling us to possess more
and more. We are bombarded from every side with advertisements inviting us to
be owners of land, property, houses, and electronic and other goods. While we
must use things and plan properly for own future and the future of our
children, we need to be careful that we do not become so obsessed with the
future that we forget to live in the present.

Saturday, 26 May 2018

Trinity Sunday is a special
Sunday in the Church year; it has been celebrated since 1334 when Pope John
XXII fixed it as the Sunday after Pentecost. It is a Sunday which is not tied
to any special event. We do not have to remember any special events or rituals.
Instead, it is a day on which we remember God; it is a day to focus our hearts
and minds on the mystery, and also on the reality, that is God. It is a bit
like a birthday, when all we do is celebrate a particular person and their
presence with us.

The French writer, aviator, and
novelist, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, once said: “If you want to build a ship,
don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and
work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” The
Easter celebrations ended with Pentecost. Through the Trinity Sunday the Church
is inviting us to return to Ordinary Time, by presenting us with the big picture
of the “endless immensity of the sea” we call God.

When we are personally caught up
in the mystery of the love of God, then we shall find the rationale and the
motivation to work on our personal growth in Christian living. It is only when
we experience the love of our God, who is a personal God that we can live out
fully our Christian calling.

The Trinity is not an explanation
of God, though many have tried to explain what the Trinity means. It is a
description of what we know about God, albeit contradictory and contrary to
logic as we know it. One good way to understand the Trinity, even if
inadequately, would be to understand the Father, Son and Spirit as Lover,
Beloved, and the Flow of Love between them that has constantly flowed since
before time began. Through the Incarnation, the Beloved came to dwell among us.
When we stand in the place of the Beloved, when we accept the offer to become
the adopted sons and daughters of God, we also become the Beloved of God, and
share in this same Flow of Love. However, even this way of understanding falls
short and we must be careful not to reduce the mystery to these explanations.
The Church teaches us that God is three persons in one nature; that Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit together are God. Beyond that is nothing more than the
speculation of our tiny minds.

The first reading of today
insists that, though understanding the mystery of God is beyond human
comprehension, our God is a God who has immersed himself in human history. He
is a God, who spoke to the people of Israel, and a God who translated that word
into action by redeeming them from slavery and bringing them into the freedom
of their own land.

However, this immersion was
through human intermediaries. Since God wanted to show his love and care for
the whole of humanity to the greatest extent possible, he made himself visible
when he took on human form, being born as Jesus Christ. This was not all. He
went even further when he embraced the Cross willingly and whole heartedly to
show that there would never be any limited to his love. His death on the Cross,
however, was only the beginning of new life. He was raised and, after his
resurrection, gave to his disciples both a commission to continue to do his
work on earth and the gift of the Spirit to enable them to do so.

The commission in Matthew is
preceded by a revelation and followed by a promise; all three are prefaced by
the universalizing “all”. The revelation is that Jesus has been given “all”
authority. The commission is that the disciples must make disciples of “all”
nations. The promise is that Jesus will be with his disciples “all” the days.
He will do this in and through his Spirit.

It is this Spirit, Paul tells us
in the second reading of today, which enables us to recognize God as beloved
Father or Mother and to realize that, just as the Trinity is united by the bond
of love, we, too, are called to that same union. It is the Spirit which gives
us the grace to recognize that every human being is a child of God and that,
because this is so, we are all brothers and sisters of one human family. It is
the Spirit which enables us to accept diversity, knowing deep in our hearts
that there is an underlying fundamental and basic unity.

Thus, the feast of the Trinity
celebrates freedom, love, community, diversity, and inclusiveness. God does not
exist in isolated individualism but in a community of relationships. In other
words, God is not a loner or a recluse. This means that a Christian in search
of Godliness must shun every tendency to isolationism and individualism. The
ideal Christian spirituality is not that of flight from the world. It is not a
spirituality that runs away from contact with other people and society. Rather,
it is an immersion into the world with a view to transforming sorrow to joy, injustice
to justice, negatives to positives, darkness to light and, death to life.

There is no one who is outside
the kingdom of God. There is no “us” and “them”. There is only “we” And, we are
all connected. The Trinity embraces diversity. We are not asked to be clones of
Jesus. We are asked to offer our unique gifts for the good of the community. We
are not asked to be the same. We are asked to seek unity even in diversity.

The text is really about the kingdom of God
and what kind of people can expect to be a part of it. When people bring
children to Jesus, the disciples try to stop them from doing so showing once
again that they have not been able to understand what Jesus and the kingdom are
all about. The kingdom is for everyone and is inclusive not exclusive.

Jesus is
emphatic in his response to their action that the kingdom does indeed belong to
children and that anyone who does not become like a child can never hope to
enter it. The point is not so much that one will be excluded but that one
will exclude oneself. The kingdom is a gift and must be received as a gift. No
human power can create or force it. The kingdom of God
will come when we behave like little children.

A childlike attitude means not only that one will be humble and
spontaneous as children are, but also that one will acknowledge like a child
has to do, his/her dependence. Many of us like to be independent and for some
asking a favour of someone else is extremely difficult because they do not want
to acknowledge their dependence on that person and so be indebted. We must
realise that we are all interconnected and while we are dependent on each other
in some way or other, we are primarily dependent on God.

Thursday, 24 May 2018

The school
of Hillel (60 BCE – 20
CE),permitted divorce literally for any cause – even if the wife
spoiled a dish or if her husband found another fairer than his wife. However
the school of Shammai (50 BCE – 30 CE) permitted
it only for adultery.

In Deut 24:1-4 the institution of divorce is taken for granted,
& concerns only the procedure to be followed and that after the woman has
married a second time, the first husband cannot remarry her. The Law of divorce
was a concession not a commandment.

The question of the Pharisees is asked by them in order to test
Jesus. This attitude becomes clear when in their response to Jesus’ question
about what the law says on divorce, they seem to know it quite clearly.

In his
response to them, Jesus quotes Gen 1:27 and 2:24 as arguments for a permanent
state of unity created by marriage. Jesus goes beyond the Law and to
Creation. Divorce according to the law of creation would be like trying to
divide one person into two. Mark’s formula is a near total prohibition of
divorce.

Mt 19:9 contains the exception contained in 5:32 – unchastity
(Porneia, Hebrew-Zenût = prostitution) understood in the sense of an incestuous
union due to marriage in their forbidden degrees of kinship (Lev 18:6-18). Such
a union would not be true marriage at all and would not require a divorce but
annulment.

Many families today are breaking up and there are various
reasons why this is happening. However, it seems that one of the important
reasons why marriages and families break up is because of selfishness. Due to
this there is unwillingness on the part of the members to adjust with each
other or the inability to understand. Each wants to go his/her own way and do
his/her own thing. Concern for the others needs and feelings seem to be on the
wane. Psychologists today are quite convinced that a healthy family background
is an absolute requirement for the healthy growth of a child and a happy child
is the result of a happy family.

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

In
1537 St. Ignatius hired a small house near a small church on a narrow street in
Rome. The Church was named as Our Lady of the Way, because of a picture of Our
Lady in the church and its proximity to the narrow street. Here St. Ignatius
celebrated Mass and prayed with his companions.

For
many years ‘La Strada’ (the wayside) was the ‘heart of the Society’. It
witnessed the long hours of prayer of St. Ignatius, his discussions,
meditations, and reflections with his companions. The Constitutions were
written here. The first novices were trained by St. Ignatius here. Hundreds of
letters went from here to St. Ignatius’ companions round the world. Fr.
Cordacio, a wealthy and influential diocesan priest who became a Jesuit used
all his money and influence to buy the rented house and secure the Church
through Pope Paul III for the Society. In course of years the ‘Gesu’ Church and
other buildings came up. All this through the powerful intercession of Mary,
Queen and Mother of the Society whose same picture is venerated in a special
chapel in the ‘Gesu’ and who is honoured with today’s feast, granted to the
Society of Jesus by Pope Leo XIII in 1900.

The
Gospel text chosen for the memorial of the feast concerns the response of the
Shepherds to the revelation that they have received. It also concerns the
response of Mary. While all are amazed at the Shepherds’ report of the things
that have taken place, Mary “treasured all these words and pondered them in her
heart” (2:19). Mary is unable to make logical sense of all the events that have
taken place in her life. The annunciation, the pregnancy of Elizabeth, the
birth of John the Baptist and the birth of her son are all mysteries to her.
Her response to these mysterious events is to ‘wonder’. She tries to make as
much sense as she can of these events. Even as she does so, she remains the
servant of the Lord, his handmaid, who let it be done in and through her.

There
are times in our lives when we cannot understand the meaning of events that
take place. At times like these we respond in a variety of ways. If the event
that occurs is not what we expected, we might lose faith in God, respond with
anger or simply give up and give in. The Response of Mary is a challenge to us
of how we also can respond. We might not always receive logical answers to the
questions that we ask, but if we remain God’s servants and let it be done in and
through us, we will find that peace which only the Lord can give.

This pericope contains a series of sayings against those who
cause scandal and other to sin. Anyone who scandalises or causes someone else
to stumble is a danger to those who believe.

Jesus’ language here seems harsh,
but he is not asking individuals to maim parts of their body. Rather he is
using these striking metaphors to drive home powerfully the point he wants to
make, namely: that no one and nothing must be allowed to compromise the
kingdom. The metaphors reflect how important striving for the kingdom is. A
disciple of Jesus must be prepared to forego anything for the sake of the
kingdom.

Our behaviour in public sometimes results in leading others away
from God and Jesus. Those who see our behaviour and know that we are disciples
of Jesus are not inspired to follow him. Christ today is made visible and
tangible through the words and actions of those of us who believe in him and so
we have an enormous responsibility to make him known and draw others to him.
People must be able to see him in us.

John comes to Jesus hoping to be commended for stopping an
exorcist who was using the name of Jesus to exorcise. In his response Jesus
advocates openness and allows anyone who wants to exorcise in his name to be
free to do so. Since the man is using Jesus name, it is clear that he is not
against Jesus and so will not speak ill of Jesus. Since he is not against, he
is for Jesus.

One of the many qualities of Jesus that stood out in his life
and mission was the quality of openness. He was willing to accommodate and
believe even in those whom others had given up on. This is shown in his call of
Levi/Matthew the tax collector, and his reaching out to sinners and outcasts.

In our understanding of Jesus we sometimes do him a disservice when we become
too parochial and narrow-minded and imagine that he is the exclusive property
of those of us who are baptised. We communicate this attitude to others when we
reject their symbols of God and worse treat them as idol worshippers. We are
being called through the attitude of Jesus in the text of today to make him
available to all with our openness and acceptance of others and of their way of
relating to God.

The text of today contains the second Passion, death and resurrection
prediction that Jesus makes on the way to Jerusalem and Jesus’ explanation of
his way of life to his disciples after they misunderstand what his kingdom is
all about.

In this second passion and resurrection prediction, there is a
change in the verb from the first where the verb was the passive “be killed”
(8,31) to the active “they will kill him” (9,31).

If after the first passion and resurrection prediction it is
Peter who misunderstands, here, it is the disciples as a whole that
misunderstand because "on the way" they are discussing who the
greatest among them is, when Jesus is speaking about service and being the
least.

Before his teaching on what discipleship means, Jesus sits down thereby
assuming the formal position of a teacher. He speaks first of a reversal of
positions and status in the kingdom, and then places before them the example of
a child. In the oriental world of Jesus' time, the child was a non-person, and
so by this example, Jesus derives home the point that they will have to lose their
identity, become non-persons if they want to gain entry into the kingdom.

Authority as understood in Christianity can never be for
domination but is always for service. Management experts today are advocating
more and more the advantages of using authority for service and leading by
example. In this manner the leader can get more out of the ones he/she leads than if
he/she tries to dominate.

About Me

There are four maxims I try to live by. The first is to ALWAYS have CHOICES about everything. The more choices I have, the less the chances of my being disappointed.
The Second is that I try to see my REWARD in the doing of the action itself. I will expect nothing from anyone in return and even expect the very ones I have helped to be ungrateful. It does not matter. I do not mind.
The third is that every stage in my life I try to KNOW where my authority ends. This saves a lot of bother. I am not the General Manager of the Universe. I do what I have to do and leave the rest to God.
The fourth is a readiness to face the consequences of my action. When I make a gaffe I am willing to rectify it and apologize. However, if it cannot be rectified I am ready to face the penalty.